This invention is for hunters for carrying and skinning large animals such as deer, antelope, elk and the like. After a kill is made the real backbreaking work of transporting the animal out of the woods and field dressing and skinning the animal begins. The animals are usually too large to be carried and therefore must be dragged to the nearest road for loading into a vehicle. Usually such transporting is accomplished now by grabbing hold of the antlers and dragging the body along the ground.
After the animal is field-dressed, it is necessary to remove the skin or hide in preparation for refrigerating and cutting up the carcass. A method for skinning is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,084, entitled: Deer Skinning Apparatus and Method of Using Same, and issued on Mar. 18, 1975, to Carrington et al. As described in that patent, a deer or other large meat animal can be skinned by attaching the animal by the neck to a tree and fixing a pulling device to the hide at the back of the neck after the skin has been cut around the neck and down the stomach from the neck to the annus. The legs are also removed at the elbow joint.
By pulling on the device such as with a vehicle the skin literally can be peeled from the carcass in one motion. This skinning method not only is less laborious but also prevents the carcass from being cut repeatedly as frequently happens when the skin is cut away by hand. Also the hair or fur is prevented from touching the carcass and requiring an even more tedious cleaning procedure.
As pointed out in the above-mentioned patent, the successful use of the power skinning method depends upon a simple and foolproof attachment device for fixing the pulling cable to the animal skin. The patent discloses a rather bulky pulling device for such attachment. It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a pulling device for skinning large animals which device is simple and lightweight and can also be used for attachment to the animal to provide a hand-hold for carrying the animal out of the field and for hanging the carcass for draining.